Q about Lhermitte sign

[biowham]

When I bend my neck forward, *sometimes* I get a buzzing on the side of my knee (meniscal area) of my left leg and in my left small toes. It doesn't happen every time, just some of the time...and it seems to happen a lot more if I get hot. It's like a cell phone buzz. No shocks, no buzzes/shocks along my spine. Just buzzes in the knee and toes of my left leg--which, by the way, is opposite the foot/leg with the stiffness and paresthesias.

Does that sound like Lhermitte sign? Can it be intermittent?

Can it stem from something the t-spine, or is it always a c-spine indicator?

Thanks,
Bio

[biowham]

Quix, I'm not sure what the "reverse Lhermitte" thing was...saw it in a paper (?)...the feeling ran up the spine rather than down, I think? I'm sorry, but I can't remember.

Thanks for the info. It's become a sort of parlor game for me over the past week or so to bend my neck and try to predict whether I'll get a "page." Neurology is simply bizarre.

Bio

[Quixotic1]

"Reverse L'Hermitte's?"  What would that be?

I have had L'Hermitte's off and on.  My is definitely intermittent and the sensation is also in the opposite leg from my weakness and spasticity.  I feel it as a trembing or vibration or electrical sensation in the front of my left thigh.

It is always described at being from a cervical lesion.  The spine bends much more there than it does lower down when you flex your neck, even more so than when you bend over like to touch your toes.  

Quix

[biowham]

Jen, I've read something about "reverse Lhermitte."

Anyone else with personal experience with Lhermitte?

Thanks,
Bio

[jensequitur]

I have a similar question - I was sitting on the park bench in the back yard, and a slat was pressing against my spine...  I noticed that the pressure was causing a buzzing, electric sensation all around my back at the level of that pressure point.  Is that also L'Hermitte's sign?  

[slightlybroken]

It does sound like you are experiencing it. From what I've read it can be intermittent even changing places.

In MS, L'Hermitte's is an indicator of lesions in the cervical spine. Movement of the neck causes the damaged nerves (the demyelinated neurons) to be stretched and send erroneous signals. The symptoms can occur anywhere below the neck and many people with MS find that it moves around their body from one day to the next.

Hope This Helps